Contracts Committee

As directed by the SFWA Board, the purpose of the Contracts Committee is to:

Update and maintain the existing SFWA contract templates;

Work to develop and maintain a repository of sample contracts and contract-related information;

Work to educate members about contract language and recommendations;

Work to help SFWA and its members answer contract related questions and issues.

It is the committee’s intent to focus on these tasks in the coming years. The committee members are: Jim Fiscus, (Chair), Michael Capobianco, Rosemary Smith, Ken Liu, Ginjer Buchanan, and Jeff Hecht. Victoria Strauss acts as an advisor to the committee. SFWA Director at Large Lawrence Schoen serves as an ex-officio member of the Committee Please direct any questions or issues to contracts@sfwa.org.

Model Contracts and Contract Information

SFWA has produced model contracts since it was created in 1965. The first, a Model Author-Agent Agreement written by SFWA founder Damon Knight, appeared in the first issue of the SFWA Bulletin in July, 1965. The model contracts are intended to help writers understand publishing contracts and to help them negotiate better contracts.

Versions and Formatting of Model Contracts

SFWA’s model contract are arranged with the text of the contract on the left with the Contracts Committee’s notes explaining the contract on the right. By including detailed notes, the Committee is working to increase the educational value of the model contracts.

The contracts will be modified from time to time, with most changes being minor changes in wording as work on later contracts leads to language that will improve earlier contacts. Minor changes will be identified by the version number following the decimal point. (e.g. 3.0 followed by 3.1 and then by 3.2)

Traditionally, writers have worked with agents on the basis of a handshake. SFWA has, however, long believed that writers need the protection of a written agreement. The latest re-working of SFWA’s model agent agreement is more detailed than the previous version so it can address specific problems writers have had in recent years.

As part of its continuing effort to educate writers about publishing contracts, the Contracts Committee periodically writes new sample contracts and updates old sample contracts. Address comments or suggestions to the Chair, SFWA Contracts Committee at contracts@sfwa.org

The model agreement is based on a collaboration agreement written by writer and filmmaker James A. Conrad. The members of the Contracts Committee who worked on the 2017 revision of the contract were: Michael Capobianco, Jim Fiscus (chair), Ginjer Buchanan, Jeff Hecht, Ken Liu, Rosemary Smith, and Anne Leonard. SFWA Director-at-Large Lawrence Schoen served as an ex-officio member of the Committee.

Publishing contracts are, as a rule, neither well organized nor well written. Related, but critical, provisions are often scattered in provisions from the front to the back, and a provision on page six will often negate or vastly modify a provision on page two. Further, there is no such thing as a “standard” contract that cuts across publishers, across types of books, or across much of anything.
We have organized this presentation thematically, rather than trying to perform a paragraph-by-paragraph dissection of a contract that may bear little resemblance to either a preexisting contract you might encounter or your (or your clients’) particular needs. In the appendices, you’ll find two representative publishing contracts. Materials from the morning session include more publishing contracts and clauses, and comparing all of the materials should be educational—if all too often frustrating.

Some months ago, a SFWA member was hiring a voice actor to produce an audio book, but could not find contracting advice. The actor was a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA,) but even the Union did not have a model contract for the situation. SFWA’s Legal Fund made a grant to the member so she could obtain legal advice.

The contract and letter of agreement posted here were worked out by her lawyer with the actor and SAG-AFTRA. The SFWA Contracts Committee is posting both the contract and the letter of agreement with SAG-AFTRA here as a guide for writers.

If the actor you are hiring is not a member of SAG-AFTRA, then the letter of agreement would not apply. Also, the sections of the contract that deal with SAG-AFTRA — in blue italics — would not be part of a contract.

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